Researchers testing Tamoxifen for Scoliosis

[Pooka1]

hmmmmm,

Dr. Moreau: By observing plasma levels of molecular and biochemical markers, clinicians will be better able to monitor bracing efficacy as well as improve bracing systems. This will help us to identify the best brace for a specific child.

This almost certainly will be for a new generation of braces and none we presently have.

Based on these changes, orthopaedic surgeons will be able to alter treatment options. Instead of putting a child in the same brace for 2 to 3 years to determine its effectiveness, physicians may be able to determine whether this is the most appropriate brace for the patient within a month, based on specific markers.

It seems likely that they can go through all the present braces and find none are appropriate.

Interesting, so THIS is where you get this "crap".
Looks interesting.
He's from St Justine's though

Research groups generally operate independently. Each researcher needs to be judged on how they operate in the research and in their published results.

[Pooka1]

I dont think they are recommending it for humans.
They are recommending it for chickens.

And "bipedal" mice.

I had no idea that amputation of the front legs of mice would reult in them walking around upright.

[Pooka1]

Pooka1

1. even if a tight connection can be established between [calmodulin] trajectories and curve progression, that IN NO WAY implies that any brace we currently have is going to stop any progression.

2. There is no evidence either way whether night bracing is not as effective as 23/7 bracing or whether either is superior to observation.

The blood test will tell your doctor if a bracing strategy is working or not. If Calmodulin levels don't drop after bracing it's probably a waste of time. If they drop like a rock you'll know that the brace is doing it's job. Right now there is no rapid way to find out if a brace is helping or even hurting.

Yes but there are long-term ways from which we can see that there is no good evidence that any brace we presently have works. This calmodulin test, if accurate, might be the death knell for bracing as we presently know it.

[Dingo]

Braces could be Kaput?

Pooka1

You certainly might be right. With rapid testing scientists may determine that all of the braces on the market need to be dramatically improved. Many might be scrapped altogether.

However it might be that this blood test allows doctors to squeeze much more benefit out of the same braces.

For example scientists slowly improved the survival rate of childhood Leukemia from less than 20% to around 80%. They did this by painstakingly refining the use of old drugs.

"The leukemia doctors saved lives simply by refining the use of old-school drugs like doxorubicin and asparaginase. Over the course of almost a dozen clinical trials, they painstakingly varied the doses of these older drugs, evaluated the benefit of continuing chemotherapy in some kids who appeared to be in remission, and tested the benefit of injecting drugs directly into the spinal column. The doctors gradually learned what drug combinations, doses, and sites of injection worked best. And they kept at it. With each small innovation, survival rates crept forward a bit—a few percent here and there every couple of years—and over decades those persistent baby steps added up to a giant leap."

[Pooka1]

Good point. I knew about the childhood leukemia deal. Those guys are amazing. Science... more than just a good idea.